The Miami Heat hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder for a cross-conference game on Tuesday evening. For the most part, the first half went fairly well for the Heat, and Miami held a five-point lead when a timeout was called with 9:25 remaining in the second quarter.
After the timeout, veteran big man Dewayne Dedmon was removed from the game in favor of Orlando Robinson, and just seconds later, a massage gun was launched onto the court during live play, prompting a stoppage. The eventual reality that Dedmon caused the issue and was ejected from the game.
Dedmon threw a massage gun on the court after some heated words with Spo
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— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 11, 2023
It wasn’t immediately clear if Dedmon really was aiming to send the massage gun onto the floor — if anything, it looks like he smacked it and unintentionally turned it into a projectile — but video captured him clearly upset enough to express that frustration. Later, the TNT broadcast showed that Dedmon and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra had an exchange in the huddle during the timeout.
Dewayne Dedmon was ejected for throwing a massage gun onto the court after getting into it with Erik Spoelstra
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— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 11, 2023
Dedmon, a ten-year veteran, has been in and out of Miami’s rotation this season, and he returned to the mix on Tuesday after a DNP on Sunday in a one-point loss to Brooklyn. Perhaps part of his frustration could be tied to that inconsistent deployment but, regardless, this isn’t something you see every day and Spoelstra didn’t exactly seem thrilled with the technical foul and ejection that resulted.